Because we’ve enjoyed this salad so much, that I’ve made it couple of times in last two weeks, I’ve tried to make a different variation of it. I’ve kept the base: leeks, eggs, mayonnaise and cheese adding some tuna and olives stuffed with anchovies. And I like it a lot, olives gives a nice twist to the flavour (like sour pickled cucumbers in the other salad), although in my opinion the previous one is a winner. You can try both and tell me what you think 🙂

I would use tuna in water, but it wasn’t available while I was making my order, so I took the one in brine. I don’t like the one in oil, I don’t know what quality of oil they use. So I always buy tuna in water, and add olive oil if I need to. As with the previous salad I recommend using smaller, whiter leeks, they are better for salads and less hard than the big ones. Also tuna in water (or brine) is pretty dry, so adding generous amount of mayonnaise it’s the thing we want.

Because I like the way it looks, I’ve placed my salad in a glass dish, making layers. But obviously you can mix all the ingredients in a bowl and it will be also great.

Is tuna good for health?

In general – yes, like almost every fish. Well, I think we all know that fish living in heavily polluted seas contain heavy metals that are harmful to health: mercury, cadmium, lead, zinc and copper. Mercury is especially dangerous for humans, and enters the body of the fish directly through the gills. In contrast, the main source of mercury for fish is food. This element tends to accumulate in the guts – in the liver and muscles. The greatest amount of mercury is in large fish, that have a long life and in predators, that feed on large numbers of smaller fish. Because tuna is a predator might contain some amounts of heavy metals.

Is canned tuna healthy?

Hmm BPA is a chemical compound used to produce plastics or epoxy resins used in the production of cans. BPA is well known to be a harmful compound that affects human health. When ingested, it is metabolized in the liver, where it forms the bisphenol A and is excreted in the urine. Before that happens, however, it interacts with the receptors of the estrogen – the sex hormone. To be more clear – it acts like a hormone.

What’s the conclusion then?

Eating lots of canned food (including tuna) is not really healthy. But let’s be honest, in today’s world, if we would like to limit all the unhealthy, more or less harmful food products, we would need to change the diet and feed ourselves with sunshine. Because even if you grow your own vegetables, you cannot be sure what’s in the soil, cannot control what’s in the rainwater. Of course it doesn’t mean, that because of that, you shouldn’t bother, and eat whatever. But we can always try to eat the best food we can find, and eat the food that we know it might be harmful for us in moderation. Like canned tuna.

So I’m happy that I prefer the other salad more than the tuna one 🙂

How about you?

tuna layered keto salad

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 1-2 leeks
• 2 cans of tuna in water or brine (2x145g)
• handful of olives stuffed with anchovies
• couple spoons of mayonnaise
• piece of cheddar cheese (in my case mild one)
• natural rock salt and pinch of lemon pepper
• about 1 tbsp your favourite mustard

DIRECTIONS

Dice the eggs, slice olives. Rinse the leek thoroughly under running water to get rid of remaining of sand and soil. Cut it lengthwise and then in thin slices. Drain the tuna from water or brine. Grate the cheese.

In a large glass dish place half of the leek on the bottom, add some salt and pepper, then add generously some mayonnaise and a bit of mustard. Place a layer of tuna (1 can), eggs, another layer of mayonnaise and mustard. Then second can of tuna, sliced olives, second part of leek, again salt and pepper. Top up with some more mayonnaise if you still have some room, and finish with grated cheddar.

Of course you can make your own layers however you want, mine is just a example. Or you can just pop all the ingredients to the large bowl and mix them together adding as much mayonnaise as you want to get expected consistency.

Enjoy!

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